BIRDS OF EASTERN AND SOUTHERN ASIA. 



March and April, their nests being not unfre- 

 quently exposed to the fury of the nor-westers 

 and destroyed by them altogether. A very 

 large proportion of the feathered inhabitants of 

 the British islands are equally natives of, or 

 seasonal or irregular visitants to, Southern 

 Asia. Not a few migratory species are com- 

 mon to the polar circle and to Lower Bengal, 

 and even further towards the equator, accord- 

 ing to season : but the individual birds may 

 not migrate so far north and south. The Cal- 

 Hope camschatkensis, a delicate little bird 

 much like a nightingale, but with a brilliant 

 ruby-throat, which is not rare in the vicinity of 

 Calcutta during the cold season, arrives " early 

 in April, with the snowfleck, in the Lower 

 Kolyma district" iu Northern Siberia, as we are 

 told by Von Wrangell ; that is to say, before 

 the last of them have left Bengal : but it is re- 

 markable that this bird has never been seen in 

 the very numerous collections from the Hima- 

 laya examined hitherto ; though another and 

 non-migratory species of the same genus 

 ( 0. pectoralis,) peculiar, so far as known, to 

 the Himalaya, is of common occurrence in such 

 collections. It is, however, enumerated in Mr. 

 Hodgson's list of ihe birds of Nepal : still it 

 seems to follow that the C. camtscliatkensis does 

 not breed extensively on this side of the snow ; 

 although the Bengal birds may not have to find 

 their way quite so far as to Northern Siberia to 

 pass the summer. The Hoopoe (Upupa epops,) 

 another species common in Southern Asia du- 

 ring the cold season, and on the table lands at 

 all seasons, is, to all appearance, a bird of flut- 

 tering and feeble flight ; but has repeatedly 

 been observed, during the seasons of migration, 

 at altitudes considerably above the limits of 

 vegetation. " On the western side of the La- 

 nak pass, about 16,500 feet, I saw a Hoopoe," 

 writes Major Cunningham, and at Momay 

 (14.000 to 15,000 fe.^t elevation), under the 

 lofty Doiikia Pass in Northern Sikhim, Dr. J. 

 D. Hooker observed, in the month of Septem- 

 ber, that " birds flock to the grass about Mo- 

 may ; Larks, Finches, Warblers, abundance of 

 sparrovvs (feeding on the Yak droppings), with 

 occasionally the Hoopoe : waders, Cormorants, 

 and wild Ducks, were sometimes seen in the 

 streams, but most of these were migrating 

 south." Dr. J. D. Hooker's sketch of the 

 grand but most desolate panorama beheld by 

 him from the summit of the Donkia Pass 

 (18,466 feet elevMtion) ought to be familiar to 

 all readers ; and he elsewhere remarks tiiat "no 

 village or house is seen throughout the exten- 

 sive area over which the eve roams from 

 Bt-.omtso, and the' general character of the 

 desolate landscape was simiUr to that which 

 he had as seen from the Donkia Pass. The 

 Kiang grazing with its foal on the sloping 



downs, the Hare bounding over the stony soil, 

 the Antelope, the Tchiru and also the Goa, 

 Frocapra picticaudata of Hodgson, scouring the 

 sandy flats, and the Fox stealing along to his 

 burrow, all are desert and Tartarian types of 

 the animal creation. The shrill whistle of the 

 Marmot alone breaks the silence of the scene, 

 recalling the snows of Lapland to the mind; 

 while the Kite and Kaven wheel through the 

 air, with as steady a pinion as if that eleva- 

 tion possessed the same power of resistance 

 that it does at the level of the sea. Still higher 

 in the heavens, long black V-shaped trains of 

 wild Geese cleave the air, shooting over the 

 glacier crowned top of Kinchinjhow, and wing- 

 ing their flight in one day, perhaps, from the 

 Yarn to the Ganges, over 500 miles of space, 

 and through 22,000 feet of elevation-, one 

 plant alone, a yellow lichen (Borrera) is found 

 at this height, and that only as a visitor for,. 

 Tartar-like, it migrates over the lofty slopes 

 and ridges, blown about by the violent winds. 

 I found he says, a small beetle at the very top, 

 probably blown up also ; for it was a flower- 

 feeder, and seemed benumbed with cold." 

 " An enormous quantity of water-fowl," re- 

 marks the same scientific traveller, Dr- Hooker, 

 " breed in Tibet, including many Indian spe- 

 cies that migrate no further north. The natives 

 collect their eggs for the markets of Jigatzi, 

 Giantchi, and Llassa, along the banks of the 

 Yaru river, Ramchoo, and Yarbru and Dachea 

 lakes. Amongst other birds, the Saras, or 

 fiiant Crane of India (see Turner's Tibet, 

 p, 212) repairs to these enormous elevations to 

 breed. The fact of birds characteristic of the 

 tropics dwellin'i for months in such climates is 

 a very instructive one, and should be borne iu 

 mind in our speculations on the climate sup- 

 posed to be indicated by the imbedded bones of 

 iDirds." it may however be remarked that 

 Saras {Grus antigone) also breeds south of 

 the Himalaya ; and th«t specimens too young 

 to fly are occasionally brought for sale even to 

 Calcutta. Turner, describing the lake " Ramt- 

 choo," remarks, — "that it is frequented by great 

 abundance of water-fowl, wild geese, ducks, teal, 

 and storks, which, on the approach of winter, 

 take their flight to milder regions. Prodigious 

 numbers of sauraases, the largest species of the 

 crane kind, are seen here at certain seasons 

 of the year, anil they say, that any quantity of 

 eggs may there be collected, they are found 

 deposited near the banks. " I had, " he says" 

 several of them given to me when I was at 

 Tassisudon, during tlxe rains ; they were as 

 large as a turkey's egg, and I remember being 

 told that they came from this place ; but whe- 

 ther or not they were those of the Sauras, I 

 cannot venture to pronounce." Instances 

 have been knowu of the Saras breeding in cap- 



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